The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Mirza Ghalib’s time travel
By K. Rajbir Deswal

THE technique may be an oft-repeated time travel, but the resurrection of the soul in its new incarnation with the subject being, “Ghalib in New Delhi,” has surely been made an interesting stuff of a burlesque ribtickling comedy. The play written and directed by Dr Sayeed Alam touched the mark of 40 with its staging this time at the Sri Ram Center of Arts, New Delhi.

The opening scene shows Ghalib in Old Delhi, sitting with a paanwala who charges Rs 6 for a couple of beetle-leaf preparations which is too high a price to be paid for a paan for the legendary poet. Ghalib carries his “deewan”, — an anthology, which people find difficult to open ‘from the wrong side’ — an apt satirical commentary on Urdu being on its way out.

Ghalib piqued at the wrong pronunciation picks up a quarrel with a tongawala who calls a passenger “sawari” while Ghalib insists on its correct pronunciation as “sawar”. “Sawar” travels in a “sawari”, he explains, but is unable to convince the tongawalla. He then expresses his desire to visit his haveli in Ballimaran where “at one time even aeroplanes could land” — an exaggeration of course — but “these days you cannot go there without bumping into countless people and losing your own identity,” informs one of the rickshaw-pullers. He tries to establish himself by quoting his couplets and coaxing that the person with a different “andaz-e-byan” is he himself, but to no avail.

The inmates of the haveli do not recognise Ghalib. He is taken to be a “jinn” — a jinni. A “maulvi” is sent for and he manages to drive Ghalib out with his exorcism. The scene in the haveli is typical where jealous women in the household are seen outsmarting each other in charm and in holding out to their men. The men even in attendance eye the women with lusty glances seeking to find opportunities to gain entry in “zanana” every now and then, the “maulvi” not being excluded.

Ghalib then button-holes a Bihari Youth, Jaihind, who offers him stay in his hired apartment of which the landlady is Mrs Chaddha who agrees to accommodate Ghalib with a tacit understanding with Jaihind that they would, at a later date, cash in on Ghalib’s status as a celebrity which they will revive in due course.

Jaihind’s Bihari accent makes matters worse for Ghalib, but he has to stay put and bear with him. He at least recognises him, but ironically enough, through Jagjeet Singh and Naseeruddin Shah.

The present-day New Delhi with its anti-encroachment drives finds an interesting reference to in Jaihind’s information. When Ghalib asks him where is New Delhi, he replies: “It is in Jagmohan’s pocket!” Jaihind’s witticism and Ghalibs own interpretation of things gone awry and skewed all those years is quite interesting.

Mrs Chaddha for her mannerism fascinates Ghalib who confesses he had been a man seeking pleasures. Having visited his “mazar”, the legendary poet laments that idlers play cards at the site and muses regretfully: Huye mar ke hum jo ruswa, huye kyoon na khake darya, na kabhi janaza uthta, na kahin mazar hota....

Until now there is a very smooth transition in Ghalib who earlier used to take umbrage at mispronunciation, misquoting of his works and misrepresentation of the actual “mayne” — semantics of his literary thought.

But now in the company of Jaihind, he has picked up the Bihari accent when he too pronounces words like “room-partner” as “d (r)oom-pat-naar(h)” and “popular” as “paa-poo-l(h)aar(h)”. Ghalib vows to settle scores with Jagjeet Singh and Naseeruddin Shah and in a bid to seek recognition he calls a press conference at the instance of Jaihind and Mrs Chaddha.

Certain top journalists of Delhi have been caricatured here. The pressmen take a dig at Ghalib and ask him offending questions on his personal life. When told that he had been visiting prostitutes also, they all flee suspecting Ghalib to be a carrier of AIDS. Jaihind then reminds them of Shabana Azmi’s ad and they all join back. The impact of the advertising affecting a common man is aptly brought home.

Jaihind plays the interpreter and tries to pacify the journalists since no arrangements had been made for snacks etc — a well-intended dig at the newer trends in practising journalism. The news coverage the following day disturbs Ghalib a little too much when he reads headlines like: “Ghalib of Ballimaran in Luxmi Nagar”, “A Cynic Calls Himself Ghalib”, Ghalib in Servant Quarters....!”, “Ghalib Takes Rebirth as an AIDS victim” and so on.

A dejected Ghalib now seeks a sell-out of himself a la Dr Faustus and approaches an advertising agency. There people suggest that his billboards can be put up in all metropolitan cities with catchy and attributable stuff as is prevalent in the ad world these days. Ghalib agress to meet Raveena Tandon but objects to his being addressed as “Arre Abba!”

The play winds up with the last scene showing a clean-shaven Ghalib in a bright T-shirt, barmoodas and trendy footwear with a cellular phone in hand giving out information to the other end on his new address as “M.A.K. Ghalib” (elaborating out as Mirza Assadullah Khan Ghalib) and his e-mail and all that. This change in him has occurred after an ad- agency arranged his meeting with Ritu Beri.

Dr Sayeed Alam is a journalist-turned-playwright-turned-director with a vast experience in theatre. His other plays which have been immensely popular include “Zindagi Naam Hai Jeeye Jaane Ka,” “Cut...Cut...Cut,” Magar Phir Bhi,” “Modern Art-2000” etc. The other cast includes Digamber Prasad (who plays Ghalib), Vijay Gupta, Harish Chhabra, Saif Haider Hasan, Niti Phool, Gajra Sharma and Arun Bisla.

	Kerala art form A 2000-year-old Kerala art from symbolising the incessant process of “srishti, sthithi and samhharam” (creation, sustenance and destruction) was under the spotlight at the prestigious “biennale l’ art contemporain delyon” in France recently. One of the only two entries from India to represent traditional arts at the fiesta, the Kerala art form of Kalamezhuthu was watched by more than 60,000 people at Lyon, said noted art connoisseur N. Radhakrishnan. Radhakrishnan, who has produced six archival films for the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) and Sangeet Natak Akademi documenting Kathakali, Mohiniattam, Krishnanattam, Theyyam, Mudiyettu and Kalamezhuthu, was invited to Lyon along with a three-member troupe of artists. The other members of the group were Sri Kallate Parameswara Kurup, Unnikrishnan and Manikantan. The sexagenerian artist hopes that the attention received by Kalamezhuthu will give a fillip to the ancient art, which is on the verge of extinction with only a handful of artists practising it. Kalamezhuthu, believed to be a 2000-year-old art form, involves the drawing of images of deities on the floor using coloured powders. Originating as a sacred ritual art in temples, Kalamezhuthu is considered to be a precursor to idol worship. The art primarily depicts 18 Shaivaite deities, which are drawn using vegetable powders of five primary colours — yellow (turmeric), white (rice), black (burnt husk), red (turmeric and lime) and green (dried coral leaves). The five colours represent the “pancha bhootas” (five basic elements) of air, water, fire, earth and sky. The colours also signify “pancha lohas” (five metals), which are gold, silver, copper, iron and lead. — UNI
	Sight & Sound History in the making by Amita Malik THOSE of us who have been privileged to witness some of the great events of recent history have stored them up in our memory because they have also been the great moments of the media, both print and electronic. The Gulf War was a great trendsetter, but before that, on humbler radio, who can forget that moment when Nehru came to AIR’s studios to announce “The light has gone out of our lives” and prevented a conflagration by clearly announcing that Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin was a Hindu. Then Gandhiji’s impressive funeral, captured on radio and film (TV had not yet arrived) and described vividly by the best international commentators, including some very good ones of our own, like Melville de Mellow. Then on the international plane. The Kennedy assassination, the fall of the Berlin Wall,Tiannamen Square. And in spite of all the high drama of the first landing on the moon, our own moment of pride when Rakesh Sharma confirmed from the spaceship: Sare jehan se achcha....Well, one can multiply the great moments of both history and the media. But few events in recent memory have been as stirring as the uprising in Belgrade last week prior to the ouster of Milosevic. Both the BBC and the CNN got immediately into the act, as usual and I must confess that on this occasion CNN was one up. For one thing, CNN’s coverage was more sustained. Tension and suspense built up almost literally minute by minute and CNN hung on doggedly while the BBC took breaks to fit in other news, although it did nip across to its outstanding correspondents in Moscow and Belgrade from time to time. Where CNN scored hands down was in its Belgrade correspondent, Alessio Vinci. He was a local who knew the language and the politics of the region inside out. His English and his descriptive powers were as precise as they were creative. What is more, he covered everything on the spot single-handed. He was able to get some exclusives first by virtue of being a local. The fact that he seemed to be there for 24 hours without any sleep, while the world waited with bated breath to see (which they literally could) which way the police would go — what a joyous moment when they took off their helmets and joined the crowds to protest. The army kept its secret longer, which added to the tension. For this columnist, who has visited the country and known its people for years, been a guest in their homes, now seeing Novi Sad destroyed by American bombing and the famous Parliament House billowing smoke while protestors clambered up its walls waving their flags was a moment of personal involvement and emotion, as it must have been for many Indians. Certainly those tense 24 hours belong to the great moments of media history, as they constitute living proof of what the ordinary people can contribute to the resurgence of freedom and national pride. There was, of course, the international media’s obsession with the crisis in the Middle East, yet another depressing chapter in that troubled area. But much, much more depressing was a BBC programme, shattering in its impact, showing the effect of the American and British sanctions on Iraq, on the health of its children. Denial of proper food, medicines and other essentials has sent statistics soaring upwards in terms of death through malnutrition or simple denial of life-saving medicines. The emaciated bodies of children and the helplessness of their parents and doctors were heart-rending and made much worse by the cynical attitude and total callousness of the officials enforcing sanctions, who were clearly unable to stand up to the damaging exposes with which they were confronted by unrelenting questioners. One of BBC’s best, and one hopes it will not only be repeated but widely shown to policy makers and the general public all round the world. The BBC certainly did not spare Tony Blair and Co in their indictment. Let that be a lesson to our so-called national channel. For those of us who remember the Kennedy-Nixon election debates, the current ones between Gore and Bush seem tame and unexciting, and Bill cooing with Hillary during her election campaign seems worse and no Sushma Swaraj to take on Hillary either.
	Audioscan Outstanding effort by ASC MISSION KASHMIR (TIPS): Chances are you are already smitten by the hypnotic Bumbro … or Rind posh maal … songs from this film. That is because of the spell that folk tunes always cast. But have you stopped to ponder who the music director is? Surely, such accomplished compositions could come only from a top-notch director, you would say. But there is a big surprise in store. It is the joint effort of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy about whom little is known. My guess is Shankar is the “Breathless” Shankar Mahadevan who has rendered three of the seven songs in this album. And what music they have given! This is surely top of the year kind of stuff. And Vidhu Vinod Chopra has arranged the songs in such a well-thought-out manner. They start with soft, gossamer-soft romance and go on to all-consuming pain in keeping with the story line about the havoc caused by terrorism. While the two songs mentioned above will gain tremendous popularity because of their outstanding beat, perhaps the most accomplished one is Chupke se sun …. Not only are the Sameer lyrics excellent, so is the voice of Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan. The only song that does not belong to the outstanding class is Maaf karo …(Anuradha Paudwal, Vinod Rathod). But even then six out of seven is an extraordinary score. AASHIQUI (TIPS): No, this is not the repackaged version music of the film by the same name. It is a private album of songs rendered by Abhijeet. He is out-and-out a film bird, so even when he compiles a non-film cassette, he does so in typical filmi style. In fact, but for various rough edges, most of these could be included in one film or the other. Perhaps that might have been their first destination, in real life. Lyrics are by Faaiz-Anwar and music by Nikhil-Vinay. It’s not high-brow stuff but just light, hummable music. As said earlier, the film influence is all-pervasive. Still, Kya yahi pyar hai … and Koi lauta de wo …have an individual identity. 90 NONSTOP FALGUNI PATHAK (TIPS): Like Punjabi music, Gujarati garaba is also winning many converts outside the state. In this field, Falguni Pathak is the uncrowned queen. In fact, she owes her rise to singing at garba functions. Here she sings mostly Gujarati songs although a few Hindi film songs like Rangeela re… and Pari hoon main… have been thrown in. All these are there in a remix version. The album also features Gujarati singers like Kishore Manraja, Rajendra Gadhvi, Anil Desai, Sheela Sethia, Hema Pandit and Iqbal Qureshi.
	Forthcoming Events CHANDIGARH Performance by “Imparage” from Rwanda (Africa): Technical Teachers’ Training Institute auditorium, Sector 26; October 16; 6.30 p.m. Puppet show by ‘Tamasha’ from Uzbekistan: Technical Teachers’ Training Institute auditorium, Sector 26; October 18; 6.30 p.m. Shooting of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ — TV show for Zee Punjabi channel: Tagore Theatre, Sector 18-B; October 13 and 14. Variety programme by Kerala Sastra Kala Manch: Tagore Theatre, Sector 18-B; October 15; 6.30 p.m. Play by Abhinet group: Tagore Theatre, Sector 18-B; October 18 and 19; 6.30 p.m. Film ‘Les dernieres vacances’ by Ettore Scola: Alliance Francaise, Sector 36-A; October 13; 5.30 p.m. Colours of Life — an exhibition of paintings by Delhi-based Kajal Nalwa: H. No. 351, Sector 9; October 13; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.